[Deacon]

It's a combination of factors.  Our sticking points are often art, layout, and proofing/approval, because those are the areas where we're "narrowest" as far as personnel. [...]

When you have one layout guy and he has to choose between a Mission or the next print release, we get the short end of teh straw.

Hm.  It used to be that Virtual Seattle and Season Zero and One of Missions used a plain print format -- Missions has always had art, but inserting standard-sized art into a page is really simple.  I could write a module, include what art I can come up with (I don't like to brag -- it gets me in trouble -- but I'm at least decent at illustrating (or at least I used to be) ), and submit the whole thing as an Open Office-made PDF file. 

Just wondering if there'd be ... not a market, but an outlet, for that sort of thing.

Of course if this isn't possible, I could still do all this and put it out on the web as my own story chronicle, a sort of ready-made campaign for Shadowrun GMs with a lack of time to write their own stuff.  Wouldn't be Missions, but it might help out some folks.

[ahayford]

Part of what makes Pathfinder Society so successful, is that they have such a wide backlog of scenarios to draw from. There are 5 seasons of modules (0,1,2,3,4) and the current, season 5. With 5th ed now, Not having the previous missions as "New to you" for new players makes the available scenario pool a bit shallow. I know the campaigns are structured differently (ie, SRM tries to tell a coherent story over a season and PFS really doesn't so much) but just throwing it out there.

The reason I am attracted to the "Missions" or "Pathfinder Society" format as a GM, is that I really appreciate the 4hr design of the modules, as well as the ability to easily drop in / drop out players. I'm actually thinking about going through some of the old Season 1 SRM modules and converting them to 5th ed just for fun/exercise in rules learning.

Was there a season 0? Are those modules available?

And, For what its worth, Pathfinder Society has to deal with level ranges etc up to level 12...they publish 2 scenarios a month, and still have people crying for more.

[Belker]

I suspect Paizo, rolling in the cash as they are (in the relative terms that one can say any game company does, the dollar amounts are still small in general business terms) has more resources to devote to producing these scenarios.

[ahayford]

I merely meant to point out, that there will always be a demand for more content.

[zekim]

Quick question: What does CMP stand for?

[Michael Chandra]

Convention Missions, not sure what the P means. Only available normally at conventions, Sprawl Wilds and Firing Line are conversions of 2010-CMPs.

[Marzhin]

Convention Missions, not sure what the P means. Only available normally at conventions, Sprawl Wilds and Firing Line are conversions of 2010-CMPs.

Maybe the P is for Prime? The FAQ mentions Prime Missions.

[Michael Chandra]

They tried to get those off the ground in Season 4 but didn't have the time for it, if I recall correctly. There are, however, some heavier mission packs in the 2013 CMPs. But no, they're not prime runner missions.

[DWC]

CMP stands for Convention Mission Pack.  Bam!

[Ghoulfodder]

It's a combination of factors.  Our sticking points are often art, layout, and proofing/approval, because those are the areas where we're "narrowest" as far as personnel.

Missions is, unfortunately, a niche product within a niche market, so sales are pretty low most of the time because not every GM buys them the way they might a regular ebook or even a print adventure.  This means that it tends to get "low priority" status among the products being worked on.  When you have one layout guy and he has to choose between a Mission or the next print release, we get the short end of teh straw.  It sucks, and it's one reason we've been doing everything we can to get more attention for Missions and thus more sales, including things like selling the CMP compilations as print products and incorporating Missions plots into the main sourcebooks to tie the two together better.  Because if we can boost sales, then we can afford to do more with the line.  Until then, we're stuck with what we got, and I'm doing my best to make the most of it.

I wouldn't be playing Shadowrun without Missions and I sure as hell wouldn't be considering running it. Missions are the best thing ever.